The two men looked at each other. They were very much alike. There was the same steelly light in the blue eyes, the same tight contraction of the thin lips. The elder looked at the younger with a glance of shrewd inquiry; the younger looked back sulky defiance. “Come,” said the traveller, after a second leisurely stretch and a second prolonged yawn, “what is it, then, the little game? Say, my friend. You didn’t sell out of her Majesty’s service without a motive, and you didn’t come home without a motive. By Jove! you never did anything in your life without a motive. You are a schemer, my dear Harcourt. The schemer is born, and not made, and he must obey his instincts. Dear boy, I know your organization, and in these days of physiological science no man can keep himself quite dark. Iago would have been a failure if Othello had studied his Lavater. Be candid, Harcourt, and tell me what noble vessel, laden with the spoils of a new Peru, flaunts her white sails upon the wind, and invites the attention of the pirate.” “You are so deuced confiding yourself, that you’ve a right to demand another fellow’s confidence,” Harcourt responded, moodily. “When I want your help, I’ll tell you my secrets. That has been _your_ way of managing matters, I believe.” “My Harcourt bears malice!” exclaimed Roderick. “Antipholus of Ephesus reproaches Antipholus of Syracuse. Dear boy, I suppose it’s our misfortune to be too much alike. Perhaps, if you won’t give me your confidence, you will at least oblige me with a chop. There was an atmosphere of smoky chimneys and warm train-oil on board the _Baron_ which incapacitated me for breakfast.” Mr. Lowther the elder possessed himself of the teapot, and appropriated his brother’s breakfast-cup, while Harcourt rang the bell and gave an order for additional rolls and chops. “I didn’t know you were coming to England,” Mr. Lowther the younger said, after a pause, in which he had stared moodily at his brother. “I suppose not,” answered the other; “and I can’t say that the heartiness of your welcome is very encouraging to the returning prodigal. However, as I have not been in these dominions for the last three years or more, and as my father and I are not the best friends,--there’s nothing so economical for a parent as a long-standing quarrel with all his children, by the way,--I shall look to you, my dear Harcourt, for any friendly offices I may require. I have three months’ leave of absence, and I have not--_le sou_. I come to England to recuperate, as brother Jonathan has it. I want to get on the blind side of my beloved aunt to the tune of a few hundreds; and I want to marry an heiress.” “Oh,” said Harcourt, thoughtfully, “you want to marry an heiress?” “Yes; can you help me to do it?” “I think not.” “Humph! perhaps if I could make it worth your while to assist me you’d tell another story. However, you can introduce me to some nice people, I suppose?” Harcourt nodded moodily.